Billings Scarlets baseball standout Kyler Northrop commits to Washington State

Billings Central junior Kyler Northrop announced via Twitter on Thursday evening that he would be committing to Washington State to continue his baseball career, pledging to play collegiately beginning in 2024-25 for a program in the mighty Pac-12 Conference.

Northrop, a 6-foot-2 shortstop, has started the past two seasons with the Class AA American Legion Billings Scarlets, where he earned an all-conference nod at his position last season. He's spent time previously with the Class A Billings Cardinals and has also played in previous years for Central's basketball team.

Northrop said in a phone call Thursday night with The Billings Gazette and 406mtsports.com that the Cougars offered him a full paid-tuition scholarship.

He also noted that he was mulling several other offers before making his visit to Pullman, which eventually sold him in making his pledge to the program along with the baseball program's facilities and his relationship with its coaching staff.

"I'm definitely very excited," Northrop said. "It's always been a big dream for me to play baseball at the college level, and especially at the D-I level and in the conference that it is in the Pac-12. ... I knew that I would have to work hard to achieve it. So it's definitely an every day, go-to-work type of thing, and it's very awesome to see all the hard work finally paying off."

When asked who he had to thank to help him get to the point he's at now, Northrop mentioned his father, Randy, along with Scarlets coach Adam Hust and coach Duwayne Scott at Big Sky Baseball, his fall scout team.

Washington State went 27-26 a year ago with a 12-18 record in Pac-12 play to finish ninth in the conference. The Cougars will be looking to push for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010 amid the gauntlet of their league, which has produced a record 29 national champions.

"Once you enter Pullman, it really seems like the whole town just revolves around the school," Northrop said. "And so you can really tell the atmosphere was great there. And yeah, all those things combined, I really just kind of got that feeling and when you know, you know. It's definitely the right place for me."

Northrop is the second Montana player to commit to play for the Cougars this year and will join Whitefish's Ty Schwaiger.